I am getting ready to order a barrel and am looking for advice from those with real experience with this chambering. If I order now it should give me and the barrel maker some lead time on next season.

It seems to me like it would be aan advantage to get the chamber/throat set up to utilize the 150 grain bullet and then set out the 125-130 grainers as needed.

I am thinking 150 Nosler BT right now! It may well be best suited tor some long range praire goat hunting I hope to do in the future.

For those of you shooting the cartridge does that make sense according to your experience?

It sounds like a good plan. The number of bullets available for 30 cal single shot pistols is getting pretty thin. Both Hornady and Sierra have discontinued their 30 cal single shot pistol bullets. I have a Bullberry custom 7.62x39 (.308 bore) which will do about the same velocity as your 30-30 AI. I have shot the Nosler 125,150 and 165 Ballistic tips with great accuracy. I did however lay in a supply of Hornady 130 grain SSP's for a rainy day. Hope everthing works out for you.

you sure about that much velocity from the 7.62x39? i thought it would do good to equal the standard 30-30? the 30-30Ackley Improved is an improved case design over the standard version. 40degree shoulders, and straighter case walls. holds more powder than the standard case. i get 2588fps with 130gr hornady ssp's out of a 14" barrel.
roughly: 2700- 110gr bullets
2600- 125-130gr bullets = 30-30AI
2400-150gr bullets

Would you care to share your load data for your 30-30 AI. I bought a set of Lee Limited Production dies in 30-30 AI in the hope of someday buying either a 14 inch pistol or 24 inch rifle barrel for my T/C Contender. I didn't realize the 30-30 AI could move that fast. I had read of P.O. Ackley using 37 grains of IMR 3031 to achieve 2700 fps with a 150 grain bullet from a 24 inch rifle barrel but never imagined only a loss of 100 fps between a 24 inch barrel and a 14 inch barrel. Oddly enough I have a Win 94AE carbine 20 inch barrel and a T/C Contender with 14 inch barrel but only 12 7/8 inches of bore travel because of the muzzle break and I only loose 150 fps between the two with the same identical load. Makes me want to buy a 30-30 AI in a pistol barrel.

Here's a link to some load data for the 30-30 AI

Handgun Hunter Magazine - 30-30 AI article.

the link provided by hunt4fun will take care of you.

imr4198,aa2015 with the ligter bullets less than 150gr, and imr3031, and w748 with the 150's have gotten good reports.



i also fired winchester factory 150gr hp standard 30-30 ammo in the 14" 30-30AI barrel to form about 40 improved cases. works great, and gave 2298fps average. accuracy was only so, so, but could work for deer in a pinch.



i might add that larry did a great job on that article, but i may be a little biased.